Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
by PebbleDrop856
Summary: When word of Arthur's marriage to Mithian gets to Gwen in exile, she does all she can do to return to Camelot and see the love of her life marry another. She has no idea why she is returning, only that she knows she must. Will she speak now or will she hold her peace forever? [One-shot, Arwen, AU set during Series 4, OOC Mithian]


**Author's Notes: So, this is a little one-shot on how Gwen reacts when she learns Arthur and Mithian are engaged. Mithian is **_**really**_** OOC in this. She's like Vivian. I couldn't think of how I could get Arthur and Vivian back together, so I just used Mithian and gave her Vivian's personality. **

**This is also a songfic of the song Speak Now by Taylor Swift. It's an amazing song and I recommend listening to it as you read, but it's not totally necessary since I know there are people who aren't a fan of her, her music, or this song. It's still a good story (in my own, conceited opinion) and I'd love it if you read it!**

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I don't even know why I'm doing this. I could be killed for this! But I had no choice. When word spread to Ealdor that the king of Camelot was marrying the princess of Nemeth, I felt compelled to return to Camelot. I figured that I deserved it. Witness my love be with another. Arthur faced the same horrible fate when he found me with Lancelot. I deserved to suffer the same.

When Merlin's mother discovered that I was returning to Camelot, she did not object. She had been the one who had sorrowfully told me that Arthur was to marry another. She understood my pain better than anyone. She understood my deep regret for my actions with Lancelot. I now knew where and how Merlin had received his caring and empathetic personality. Before I left, she helped me pack and gave me advice that has been stuck on mind since then.

"Follow your heart. Love is stronger than anything, even hurt."

Sometimes I wished those words could be true. But I could never forget the broken and angry look Arthur gave me when I stood before him, the way I felt his anger course through my body when he held me in his hands, but he restrained from letting the anger hurt me when I felt like I deserved it. Arthur was too hurt. I still don't know why I'm doing this. Who am I to intrude upon a happy union between man and woman? But, there was an urge I felt. An urge that told me whoever this woman was, she was not Arthur's love. Reality set in though. I knew Arthur to be a man who married for love, not power or alliances. Whoever she was, Arthur felt a connection to her. And I would have to accept that.

I found myself hiding in the curtains of the throne hall. With the castle busy with wedding preparations, luck favored me as I managed to sneak into Camelot without drawing much notice. Maids were placing flowers all over the room. The room was so beautiful and decorated. It seemed a lot of effort had been placed into creating this setting.

I felt a tug at my heart when I saw Merlin presiding over the preparations. He seemed to do it with little effort. He lazily pointed to the maids on where to place decorations, not bothering or caring if some flowers were misplaced or that the carpet where the princess would later walk on was riddled with dust. It struck me as odd. Merlin, being Arthur's friend, would have wanted his wedding to go great and he would have worked hard on it. Instead, even from a faraway distance, I noticed disinterest with the way he carried himself.

I left the throne hall and went inside the castle. I had to. I could not fight it. I had to find the woman who Arthur would marry. I needed to know who she was. The halls felt so familiar to me, like it would never leave my memory. I often hid whenever I saw a maid or guard walk by. Everyone in Camelot knew me. The servant girl who captured the king's heart. The servant girl who betrayed the king's heart. I'm afraid that is what I will always be in the eyes of the people.

I eventually found her. She was in one of the upper chambers, not too far away from Arthur's. Her door was open as her maids were constantly coming in and out of her room, helping her prepare. A big, ugly, and pastry-like wedding dress was sprawled across her bed. I couldn't help it. I had to. I took a basket and held it over my face as I walked in.

"You!" she immediately said when I walked in. "Where is the rest of the maids? This place is so incompetent!"

Even if she couldn't see it, my eyebrows raised in surprise and face morphed into a scowl from her rudeness.

"Well, what are you? Deaf? Tell the other maids to hurry up in here! My wedding is this afternoon! When I'm queen, I promise you that you and the other incompetents are fired right away! Now hurry up while you still have a job!"

"Yes, My Lady," I said quietly as I ran out of the room.

I found myself hiding in a secluded place in the castle, a place where no one ever went. I had to ask myself, "_What the hell was Arthur thinking, marrying this girl?_" She was downright horrible. She did not deserve being Arthur's queen and wife. But, that's when I realized that I did not deserve to be his queen either. This led me to ask the question I had been asking myself ever since I left Ealdor. Why am I doing this?

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Time passed by so quickly, and I still found myself asking the same question as the wedding began.

Why am I doing this?

Why the hell am I doing this? This is crazy!

I need to leave, but my feet feel glued to the floor.

I can't do this. I need to leave.

Why am I doing this?

_Because I need to do this. _

I stood up with shaking hands and emerged from the curtains where I hid. I stared across the room to where Arthur was about to place the crown on the horrible woman's head.

"Stop!" I yelled across the hall. And in that moment, I felt everything pause and move in slow motion around me. I saw everyone's heads turn around and examine the sudden intrusion on the wedding. I saw the knight's and my brother draw their swords, but were put away the moment they noticed the intruder which caused their faces to soften. I saw Merlin's continuous look of disinterest turn into relieved happiness. I saw the horrible princess turn around as anger filled her face. Finally, I saw Arthur's face. He dropped the crown upon seeing me. His face as a mixture of several emotions, too many for me to determine which ones. Everything I heard seemed muffled. That was until I spoke amidst the chaos.

"I am not the kind of girl who barges in on such a happy occasion. But, you, Arthur, are not the type of man who should marrying the wrong girl," I said bravely, making my way to the throne as I felt my eyes beginning to tear up but I refused to let them fall. "Don't say yes. Don't make any vows. You need to hear me out. Please, Arthur. This is me, speaking now."

I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Even up close, his face was so filled with emotion that it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Then, he did something. Something I could never imagine. He ran from the throne and grabbed my hand and took me away from the throne hall, away from the wedding. Guards tried to stop us, but the knights stopped them from following us. The knights drew swords and dared anyone who tried to oppose us. And we kept running and running. Eventually, we found ourselves in a place that was all too familiar to us. We were in the spot where we had our picnic, our first date.

"Arthur –" I began.

"Don't speak," he interrupted.

"But, I-" I tried again. I had to apologize for all the pain I've caused him, for the wedding of his that I interrupted, for everything I had ever done to him. Even now, I find myself asking the same question: Why am I doing this?

"You had your chance to 'speak now'. It's my turn now," he said, turning around so he would not face me. "Guinevere, you destroyed my wedding. And don't speak yet! You destroyed my union with a beautiful woman. You destroyed my chance to have her as my queen. And I can't thank you enough." He turned around, grabbed me by my waist, and pulled me into a long and passionate kiss.

When we finally broke apart, he guided me to sit on a boulder as he held my hand. He said, "I can't believe how much I have missed you."

"And I you," I replied, staring at our intertwined hands.

"When I sent you away, I lost myself. I couldn't care any less about love when I lost you. Then, Nemeth and Camelot got into a dispute over some lands and Camelot needed a queen. Like I said, I couldn't care any less about love anymore. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to explain yourself and you certainly do not need to apologize," I said. "I've caused you more pain. I don't know what happened between me and Lancelot. But you will always be in my heart. Always. But there is no need for me to be in your heart."

"There is every need," he replied, looking into my eyes which always caused my heart to flutter around. "Guinevere, I don't care about the past. You're all I care about. And that's how it will always be."

He dug through his pocket and revealed a ring that was bound together with rope to form a necklace. It was my necklace, the one I had lost weeks before. "Arthur, where did you-" I began.

He held a finger to my lips, rested one knee onto the ground, and asked, "Guinevere, will you marry me?"

"Yes, yes! With all my heart, yes Arthur!" I replied, happiness coursing through me. He yanked the rope off the ring and placed it around my finger.

"So, there's a crowd of Camelot citizens and an angry princess awaiting us in Camelot," he said, smiling. "And a ruined wedding."

"Then let us 'speak now' of our engagement to them," I replied happily.

Now I knew exactly why I did it. I knew why I snuck back into Camelot, why I had to meet the princess, why I stopped the wedding, why I ran away with Arthur. Love. Hunith was right. Love is stronger than anything. It is stronger than hurt, doubt, fear, confusion, everything.

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**Author's Notes: This is actually my first songfic, so if I somehow didn't follow any guidelines or such of songfics, please forgive me. I know FF doesn't allow copyrighted song lyrics on the website, so I just wrote a story that was inspired by the song.**

**So, thank you for reading and please review! I'd appreciate it a lot!**


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